Florida to investigate if 22 vaping companies are targeting teens

By John Haughey | The Center Square

Florida Attorney General Ashley Moody announced Wednesday her office will launch the “most comprehensive vaping investigation to date” to determine if e-cigarette manufacturers are purposely – and illegally – marketing their products to teens.

“Our investigation will focus on the marketing practices and online sales strategies of these companies to determine if they have intentionally targeted minors, tempting them to vape,” Moody said at a press conference at H.B. Plant High School in Tampa. “We will also seek information to determine if these companies can support their marketing and health claims.”

Moody said the investigation will examine if 22 vaping companies that sell products in Florida are violating the state’s consumer protection laws by appealing to under-aged users and contributing to “a growing epidemic” of vaping e-cigarette use among teens.

“It’s illegal under Florida law to sell these products to anyone under 18, yet vaping among our youth is out of control,” she said in a video posted to the state’s website launching the investigation and naming the 22 companies that will be included in the probe.

Moody’s investigation of e-cigarette product companies in Florida comes amid a nationwide outbreak of vaping-related illnesses and “lung injuries.”

More than 1,300 cases and at least 26 deaths across 49 states have been reported since March to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) as of Oct. 10.

According to the CDC, most of the illnesses, or lung injuries, were incurred by victims who vaped products containing marijuana THC with about 1 in 8 victims only vaping nicotine.

On Friday, the CDC issued guidance to clinicians and health care practitioners that gave the illness a name – EVALI, or e-cigarette or vaping product use-associated lung injury.

As of Oct. 12, the Florida Department of Health (DOH) reported 68 vaping-related illnesses, an increase of 16 cases last week, with one death now attributed to EVALI.

Even before the outbreak of vaping-related illnesses became a national issue, officials nationwide were concerned with rising e-cigarette use among state teens.

According to the U.S. Surgeon General, 1 percent of middle and high school-age girls, and 2 percent of middle and high school-age boys had vaped in 2011.

By 2018, those figures had increased to 19 percent and 23 percent, respectively, with 68 percent of high school-age e-cig users vaping flavors, the U.S. Surgeon General reports.

Those national figures were reflected in an April DOH report that documented a 58 percent increase in the use of e-cigarettes among Florida high school students from 2017 to 2018.

According to the DOH report, nearly one in four Florida high school students admitted to vaping in 2018, with as many as two-thirds not realizing they were ingesting products that contained nicotine.

“E-cigarette companies claim that their products are intended for adults, but skyrocketing rates among teens tell a different story,” the DOH said, noting while the report documented growing use among teens “only about 4 percent of adults in Florida were using e-cigarettes.”

Armed with the DOH report, Moody said she launched a statewide “fact-gathering mission” on vaping and e-cigarettes, speaking with parents, teachers, school officials, state and local leaders, concluding “consumer protection action” was warranted.

Moody’s office said the investigation will focus on assessing whether vaping companies are “unfairly targeting minors in their marketing, failing to take adequate precautions to prevent the sale of such products to minors, deceptively and unfairly representing that their products can help smokers quit the habit without FDA approval to make such claims, misleading consumers regarding the safety and health impacts of e-cigarettes, or otherwise engaging in marketing and other business practices that violate Florida’s consumer protection laws.”

Among the reasons why vaping may appeal — and be targeted — at teens is the growth in flavored vaping liquids, or juices, that are available in approximately 20,000 “vape shops” across the nation.

The Trump administration in September announced plans to ban flavored vaping juices sometime soon. Michigan and New York are among states where flavored liquids have been banned, although a Michigan judge Tuesday temporarily blocked the state's ban, saying it may force people to smoke more harmful tobacco products.

The 22 companies named by the Attorney General’s Office include 13 based in Florida and nine headquartered elsewhere that sell their products in the state, most notably San Francisco-based JUUL Labs, which the New York Times says accounts for more than two-thirds of the $2.6 billion U.S. e-cig market.

“As a mother, I cannot sit on the sidelines while underage vaping skyrockets and our next generation becomes addicted to nicotine,” Moody said. “I commit to you, that we will get to the bottom of this issue so important to the future of Florida’s youth.”